Mowing practices for healthy lawns (2024)

FAQs

Mowing practices for healthy lawns? ›

Keep your lawn healthy and actively growing

Stick to the 1/3 rule: Never remove more than 1/3 of the grass blade length when you mow. A healthy lawn can survive an occasional close cut. However, routine close mowing produces a brown lawn and has several harmful side effects including: Injury to the crown, where new growth generates and nutrients are stored.

Frequency of Mowing

The rate of grass growth and desired height of your lawn determine how often you need to mow. Typically, mowing once a week during the growing season should suffice to keep your lawn healthy. The rest of the time, you can reduce the frequency of cutting to every other week, as necessary.

1. The most efficient way to mow is the spiral: start from the outside and do the border, spiraling in to the middle. 2. Next, you have the long stripes: mow the long edge-the length of the rectangle-and then u-turn, and go back forth, striping the turf till you're done.

Every time you mow your lawn, you should assess the integrity of your lawn's edges. If you notice the lawn growing over your edge lines, it's time to clean them up with some edging!

Even if you're performing weekly mowing, if you're cutting the grass too short, it could still turn yellow from stress. When you mow too short, you also invite weeds into your lawn. Opportunistic weeds are much more likely to invade weakened lawns, than dense and thriving ones.

In other words, leaving more than a third of the leaf at any time the grass is mown during the growing season allows the roots to continue to grow. If the roots keep growing, the plant will remain healthy and perform better than under the stresses placed on it by harder mowing and slower root-growth.

Generally, yes. Mowing frequently is the key to a healthy lawn because each cut encourages the grass to grow thicker, creating a luscious, dense lawn. You can also block out weeds and make your turf more resilient, which is essential for a long-term, strong lawn.

Mow in the Evening

Because it tends to be cooler at this time, the roots retain their moisture. The blades of grass also have an entire night to recover before being sapped by the sun again in the morning. Conversely, wet, dewy grass can clog your mower deck.

How to thicken your grass? ›

Aerate your lawn

Our first secret to getting a thicker lawn is a process called core aeration, which involves creating holes in the soil. Why? Poking holes into the soil will help water, air, and nutrients get down deep into the soil to improve root development, giving you a thicker, healthier lawn.

Mowing in concentric circles reduces turns, making maneuvering more efficient. This pattern is particularly useful for lawns with irregular shapes and obstacles.

It's generally accepted that the best speed for effective mowing is in the 3-6 mph range. Going too fast can actually result in an uneven cut.

But the mowing testers at Consumer Reports say, not so fast. Mowing at a slower speed typically gets better results.

Normally, weekly mowing is the rule, but some lawns need cutting more often. Other lawns will grow more slowly and might need cutting only once every ten days or two weeks. Generally, don't cut off more than one third of the grass blade. More than that may harm the grass.

Some people find that by trimming the edges first you are able to mow over the cut grass from the edges, which will leave the lawn clean of debris when finished. But if you don't mind blowing these trimmings away afterwards, then it doesn't really matter. In some cases, we have seen people edge first.

Makes Your Yard Healthier Over Time

Over time and with consistent mowing, the weak grass shoots will get left behind, and your yard will get healthier enough to withstand poor weather, pests, and other conditions.